Sightseeing

Monday, April 10,  we got to go to see some sights!  We chose the Tower of London in the morning. On our way to the Tower, Richard and I found 2 Thais who had come to London on vacation. When speaking to them it was quite a shock. They did not expect westerners in the middle of London to be able to communicate with them in Thai.  After a brief conversation, we gave them Thai Christian literature. 

At the Tower, we had a lively tour guide who helped to make the place come alive. Afterwards, the guys on the team split with the girls and went to see the armory. Meanwhile, the girls went to view the crown jewels of Queen Elizabeth. 

After lunch we went to see the British Library and then the British Museum.  WOW! It's a great place with so many things to see from around the world.  Impossible to see everything in one day.

We are so grateful that each of you prayed for us.  We ended up working with 2 local pastors and 4 IMB missionaries. It was an experience of diversity in 3 different areas of London.  It made us appreciate the work of missionaries in this atheistic city and to understand a little better just how hard it is to reach the people of London with the salvation message of Jesus. Only 1% of the population claim to be believers.

We will sleep for about 5 hours and get up to start our journey back to the USA.  Please pray for our safety in travel,  and not to have any problems.

Chiswick Baptist Worship

Sunday, April 9th, we went back to Chiswick Baptist Church.  They're worship service was first with Pastor Steve preaching. Afterwards, there was a tea and coffee break with cookies.  Then Pastor Jared gave an introductory Sunday School lesson.  Afterwards, we broke up into small groups to discuss the topic of obeying God to go and witness as Philip did with the Ethiopian treasurer.  

During the worship service 2 Iranian men and an Iranian woman came in.  After the service, Richard engaged them in conversation.  He felt prompted to present the Creation to Christ story because the woman didn't know very much at all about Jesus or stories from the Bible.  We found out that the lady had lost a child and had been depressed.  She had made a profession of faith the week before, yet didn't know much about the Gospel story.  After Sunday School her brother came up and told Richard how much he appreciated him telling his sister the overall story.  Richard suggested that they start reading the Gospel of Mark.  Pray that the 2 new Iranian Christians will read the Bible and grow in their new faith.

After eating lunch at an English Pub, we went on the street and did a survey finding out about what people thought about Christians, religion and Christ.  Unfortunately most of the people we met were atheists and not opened to the gospel story.  The last people we talked to were Catholics.  When the 16 year old daughter found out that we were Christians, she spoke up proudly that she had begun  to read the book of Matthew.  Pray that God will work in the lives of those we met and  that they will think about God in a positive way.  

Uxbridge Bible Distribution

On Saturday, April 8th,  we went to Uxbridge to pass out Christian Bibles and literature in NW London.  Riding the bus about 50 minutes to work with missionary Scott.  Scott set up a table outside in a busy shopping district.

  

One man Richard spoke to was a young Hungarian named Frange.  He had been in England for a month.  He couldn't make a living in Hungary, so he became an economic migrant.  He loved his country and family and missed them very much.  He was deeply hurt by the fact that his younger brother had died 2 months earlier in an automobile accident in Hungry. This made him wonder how a good God would allow all the suffering and death in the world.  He was angry and refused to believe in God.

Linda spoke to an Indian Hindu man, who had studied lots of different religions and was an atheist of sorts.  They discussed different questions from which was the oldest religion to forgiveness.  He couldn't understand how you could forgive someone who had done absolutely horrible things to you or your family.  In the end he did take a tract and Linda's prayer was that he would believe.

It was a fast morning and afternoon talking to people with the basic questions of life and prejudice.  

A Journey To Brick Street

On Friday, April 7th, our team went to Brick Street, an trendy place for London's hip people. It was also a street filled with mid eastern restaurants as well as had a Mosque. There was stylish graffiti artistically painted on walls everywhere making the area more colorful.

Our assignment for the day was to engage the local shop owners and tell them Bible stories when possible. Many opportunities opened up with shop and restaurant workers listening to stories about the "Wind and Waves" and the "4 Soils". But very few people showed an interest in knowing more about Jesus. Tom, one of the team members form First Baptist, was able to return to a restaurant where he had witnessed to a worker. Tom gave him a Bible in his own language.

Latter in the afternoon, Richard and Linda were able to met Eddy and his sister.  They are from Thailand. He had been in London for 10 years as an artist. He listened to the gospel message and understood that salvation comes only through Jesus Christ, yet has not believed. We gave him a Christian tracts in Thai.

• Please pray for Eddy and his sister whom we met yesterday as we witnessed and passed out tracts.

Thanks for praying!

Survey Day In Chiswick

Thursday, April 6, we went to Chiswick Baptist Church.  This historic church was started by Charles Spurgeon, Jr..  Nowadays the church number has dwindled to between 20-50 people.  Stephen Messersmith is the pastor and looking for ways to interact with the community.  The community has turned into an upscale neighborhood with quaint shops. 

Our assignment was to go door to door and take a survey.  Where we were assigned there were shops. So we went into shops asking questions and  telling Bible stories when appropriate. 

The pastor of Chiswick got excited when he met a man whose grandmother's funeral he had conducted several weeks ago.  The man was negative about Christianity, but glad for the opportunity to talk one on one with the pastor.  He agreed to come to church this Sunday. 

When it was all over, pastor Steven was excited and ready to do more street evangelism.  He thanked us for coming and teaching him about a different way to reach his community.

• Pray that the man whose grandmother died will keep his word to come to church soon.  
• Pray for God's work in the life of Chiswick Baptist to prosper,  and people from the surrounding area to find new life in Jesus Christ. 
• Pray for the pastor of Chiswick Baptist to be filled with God's spirit and be a lighthouse of God's love in the community.

LONDON Trip Begins

Wednesday, April 5, was a day of manual labor for us.  We went to an "Estate" which is like an apartment complex in which some of the apartments are government subsidized and other apartments are owned.  One British missionary, Mark, who our missionaries work with lives there and is trying to plant a church.
The aim was to plant a flower garden.  There were 2 triangular areas in which we worked.  Both soil and compost material were delivered to the complex and some plants were bought.  Some of the men worked with wheel barrows to deliver the dirt to the triangles and others in our group and some from the complex used spades and pitch forks to mix and smooth out the soil.  Once all the dirt had been put in the triangles we began planting the various plants.  Officials from the complex supervised while we and some of the complex residents dug holes, put the plants in and filled the areas around the plants with soil.
Besides the planting, we were to talk with residents.    One of the residents that Richard and I talked with was a Syrian lady and some of her 5 children.  I gave her a tract in Arabic and prayed that God would use our encounter to bring spiritual awareness to her.
At the end of our day, we were all tired and ready for bed.